Autumn creating ideal fishing conditions

The October morning dawned as close to perfect as it gets in the Texas Hill Country, and that’s saying something.

Then it got better.

The air was cool — crisp, really — and the sky swept clean of clouds and left crystalline sapphire by a pretty potent early-autumn cool front that had blown itself out the night before.

Current slowly bore the canoe on the burbling and purling surface of the South Llano River. The river and the shore were still shadowed, the sun not yet high enough to top the rocky hills that bracket the river’s path.

Two deer jerked their heads high, stared for five or so heartbeats at the thing floating toward where they stood having a breakfast of forbs, then nonchalantly bounced and disappeared into the head-high thicket of ragweed.

A kingfisher chattered.

It took only a half-dozen casts until something grabbed the little jig worked along a current seam behind a rock. A Guadalupe bass.

It’s true what they say about Guadalupes, the State Fish of Texas: They “live only in beautiful places.”

We floated along in the cool morning air, catching a redbreast sunfish here and a Rio Grande perch there and, it seemed, Guadalupes from every little run and riffle or along a cut bank where the river’s current caressed the shore.

Just minutes after the sun topped the hills, bathing the river in gold, I saw a riot of orange coloring the green and brown limbs of an elm hanging over a tiny side creek. We nosed the canoe to the creek opening and stared, transfixed.

Sign of relief

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of monarch butterflies hung from the branches like a living, shimmering sheet of orange and black. The fragile butterflies, on their unimaginable migration from as far away as south-ern Canada to the Sierras of central Mexico, had stopped for the night along this Hill Country waterway.

We spent the rest of the day borne on the bosom of the river: fishing, watching, stopping for a shore lunch and just savoring each precious moment.

That’s the kind of experience Texas rivers can offer during autumn.

Our state is blessed with many wonderful waterways on which to paddle and fish, camp, swim, bird or simply enjoy seeing the constantly changing scenery. And that includes a variety of settings and ecosystems that few states can come close to equalling. What other state can offer places as diverse and different as the tannin-stained, jungle-like rivers of East Texas and the rocky, crystal-clear streams that course through the cactus and greasewood on the edge of the Chihuahuan desert?

This autumn is shaping up to be a good one for exploring Texas rivers. Maybe not perfect, but still a lot better than it was just a couple of weeks ago.

Almost all of Texas remains gripped in drought. Water levels and flows in many waterways, particularly in pockets of central and western Texas, remain well below normal.

But recent rains have greatly aided the situation on some rivers. Premier Central Texas waterways such as the Llano and South Llano are flowing at near normal rates. The upper and middle Brazos is doing OK. East Texas rivers are full. Even the drought-withered reaches of the upper Nueces and Guadalupe Rivers are seeing a bit of help from rain.

And with both short-term and long-range forecasts calling for more rain — at least more than we’ve seen for months — prospects for improved flows are encouraging.

The stretch from the first of October through late November produces some of the best conditions for outdoor recreation. It’s cool, at least much of the time. And that makes overnight camping on a sandbar a much more pleasant experience than the hideous sweat-fest of the summer.

Fishing can be great, too. River fish seem to become more active during autumn. Maybe the cold-blooded creatures’ metabolism is just better when water isn’t near boiling. Or maybe they’re bulking up for the coming winter.

Whatever it is, I just know that I seem to have a lot better success fishing the river in the spring than I do in the heart of summer.

Plenty of spots

Riverside wildlife also seem more active and visible during autumn. It’s certainly more diverse. The resident critters such as deer, otters, raccoons are joined by transients — migrants passing through on their way south for the winter and using the rivers as pathways. That host can include monarch butterflies, warblers, raptors and a variety of waterfowl.

Deciding on which Texas river to visit for an autumn expedition can be daunting — there are so many, and so many good ones.

But it’s hard to go wrong with these:

In East Texas, Village Creek near Beaumont is perfect for a day trip or two-day/one-night weekend floating/camping trip. Fishing is just fair, at best, in this undammed artery of the Neches River system — mostly sunfish with a few largemouth bass and the occasional spotted bass. But it’s a beautiful, tea-colored stream with wide, sugary sandbars that make nice campsites.

The Llano and South Llano are premier Hill Country rivers. Lots of fish. Good access. Gorgeous, clear, spring-fed water. But don’t overlook the upper reaches of the Guadalupe.

The upper and middle Brazos may have the best fishing of any river in the state. Largemouth bass to 7 or 8 or even 9 pounds. Huge striped bass in some of the deep pools. Lots of catfish, too.

The upper Nueces, between Camp Wood and Uvalde, can be a wonderful fall fishery and paddling paradise. But only if there’s water in the river. When there is, it offers a great fishery for pure-strain Guadalupe bass.

Hit just about any Texas river on the right October or November day — preferably a day or so after a cool front, when the sky is clear and crisp and life in and around the river crackles with a kind of organic electricity — and it’ll make you forget about the long, hot, dry summer.